


Temporary Starlight

by AlyssOfSpades



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-19
Updated: 2015-10-19
Packaged: 2018-04-27 02:07:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5029576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyssOfSpades/pseuds/AlyssOfSpades
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone has a hidden passion. For Sans, it's the stars. Why do you think he owns a telescope? "This was how life should always be, the sky over his head and his brother’s happiness secured. They were all alright."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Temporary Starlight

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work for Undertale, and I was inspired to write it by Skelesin. So if you're looking for a good time, I highly recommend you reading some of her stuff. For the mean time, I hope you enjoy this. I certainly had fun writing it.

               Frisk had left Snowdin a few days ago, not that he could do much about it. Papyrus had gotten attached in a matter of minutes, and the lady behind the door had made him promise to be kind to humans ages ago. His hands were tied. At first he had been greatly worried, allowing the human to go free like that. Situation after situation would pop into his head. What if the human became frustrated and took it out on someone else? What if Undyne got carried away and hurt them? What if they decided to sacrifice themself for Asgore, gave up their soul, and the monsters went on to fight humanity? There were so many, ‘what if’s. Sans kept pacing back and forth between his stations, trying to monitor the human’s situation. Once in a while, when he had the chance, he’d sneak into Alphy’s lab and watch them on the monitor, just keeping track of their progress. As far as he could tell, it was going well. Still, he couldn’t help but to keep his jaw clenched. This kid was hope, and he wanted to hold on more than anything.

            He didn’t really need to see them on the big screen, of course. If he wanted, he could pop in and see them in person, albeit from a distance. Messing with their adventure seemed like a bad idea. However, there was something comforting in watching the human from someone else’s perspective. Part of his liking of the screen stemmed from the fact that, if something did happen to go wrong, he wouldn’t have to be there watching it first hand, but it’d really rib him to admit that, even to himself. Sans crossed his arms as the pinpricks of light in his eyes scanned the monitor. Of course he could handle this. Everything was going just fine. Heck, the human had just finished outperforming Mettaton and was on their way to the castle.

            (He would admit he enjoyed that encounter immensely. Mettaton always struck him as doing the same thing over and over again, being so flashy and all. While he could appreciate another performer, that didn’t change his opinion of the robot. That guy was a bit of a square sometimes.)

            It was almost his cue. He’d have to judge the human soon for everything they’d done. His eyes were glued to the screen, his hands shoved deeper into his pockets than usual as the human continued to be kind to everyone.

            “C’mon little buddy, you’re so close,” he whispered. “You can do this. I believe in you.” As if they had heard him, they disentangled themself from another fight, waving goodbye and smiling as they continued on. They knew the ropes and were enjoying the times they were having. It was all so much fun for the kid.

            Sans stood as they entered the elevator to reach Asgore’s castle. Soon. Almost too soon. It seemed hard to believe. He laughed at himself a little, looking down at his hands. They shook in apprehension. God, to think someone he barely knew could do this to him. Sans shook his head. At least he would only have to do this once, and then it’d be over. Then everything would be alright. He took a breath, walked to the castle in a matter of seconds, and stood in the middle of the hall to wait. Everything would be alright.

-

            Well, alright was a subjective term, as it turned out. The damned flower reset time a few times and absorbed them all to become a massively powerful being, but beyond that everything turned out alright. They were alright. He and the human and all of their friends were okay in the end. The barrier was broken, they all flooded out into the world above, and none of them had ever been happier. The first thing any of them saw, and in Sans’ opinion, the best thing that could be seen as they stood atop the mountain, was the sun, shining in brilliant reds and oranges as it began to slip behind the horizon. One of his favorite pastimes back in the underground was reading about astronomy and space. It was incomprehensible, and he couldn’t agree more with that sentiment now. Looking out over forests and mountains was lovely, yes, but they had those where they came from. The air smelled different, cleaner, than it did below. It was all very nice, but the sky. The _sun_. Nothing compared. There was nothing underground that cast such a comforting glow, that could warm him inside and out like this. Sans looked over at the others, wide eyes filled with a happy disbelief. They’d made it. Noticing the movement, Papyrus turned towards him, a goofy grin plastered on his face. Sans gave him a double thumbs up, not only for the situation, but for the way the light fell on him. He doubted his brother noticed, but the light casted colored highlights and shadows over his bones, making him look like some kind of superhero. Man, his brother could be cool.

Soon the rest of them began to get antsy. There was only so much gazing at the sun they could do, even if he wished he could stay there for the rest of the day. Sans quietly followed behind as Papyrus raced off and Undyne followed after, screaming at him to get his butt back here while he merrily proclaimed how fantastic and helpful the Great Papyrus would be as an ambassador to the humans. Between their giddiness and the fresh air, he was grinning so widely it felt as if the bones in his face would crack. If this was what life was like on the surface, he would really have to thank Frisk later. This was better than he could have imagined.

-

            Over the next week they all began finding their own niche in the world. Papyrus took great delight in cookbooks and cooking shows. Undyne got a kick out of wrestling, although she never objected when Alphy asked her to sit down and watch anime. As for Sans, he had devoured every science fiction book dealing with space he could get his phalanges on, not to mention anything else that had to do with astronomy. Very little news of space exploration ever reached the underground. Every night he went outside to look at the stars, finding the constellations he had read about so long ago. Watching them move across the sky ever so slowly was one of his favorite things to do. Right now, he couldn’t have been happier, staring up at a clear night sky, the moon barely a sliver hovering over the horizon.

            Behind him, he heard the door opening and shutting again. Ah, that would be Papyrus. He liked to come outside for a bit to lay down in the grass and enjoy the cool evening air. Just as he thought, his brother sat down next to him. Sans noticed he’d left his gloves in the house, probably so he could feel the grass under his fingers. There were certain little things they all appreciated. Sans’ grin softened before he turned his focus back upwards. Seeing his brother happy was worth any stress he had endured underground.

            “Don’t you get bored out here?” Papyrus asked. It wasn’t an accusation, more of a wonder he had. Sans shook his head.

            “Nah. I love it. Just look at them all, shining up there. We used to have to look at rocks, but now we have the real thing. I’d be out here all the time if I didn’t have to sleep.”

            Papyrus scoffed. “’Sleeping’. You’re still lazy even after coming up to the surface. And there are so many things to do! I can’t understand why you’d wanna waste your time napping all night.”

            “Hey, I can spend my time any way I like. Besides, if you don’t get some sleep sometime your bones are going to turn to dust. You can’t spend all your time watching tv and trying out the recipes.”

            He waved a hand out in front of himself in a broad, dismissive arc. Sans grinned one of his new grins he had begun to wear since they came to the surface, the one where he smiled so wide it hurt his face. Pap liked to tease him about it, but he didn’t mind. “Nonsense!” Papyrus exclaimed as he did his best dramatic pose while remaining seated. “I, the Great Papyrus, will become a master chef and inspire all the humans with my fantastic cooking skills! People will come from all over the world just to try my food! Nyeh heh heh! I’ll be so popular! I doubt anyone else could handle this kind of pressure.” He sighed, as if exhausted just from the thought of it. The lights in Sans’ eyes sparkled as if they belonged in the sky instead of on his face. He loved listened to these kinds of stories. Some things never changed. Some things should never change.

            “You’re so cool, bro.”

            The tall skeleton hummed happily under the praise, trying not to beam too much but failing. His emotions always found a way out. “Thanks, Sans. Y’know, you might like cooking. I could teach you. You could do try it tonight instead of laying around and napping forever.”

            Sans chuckled. He wasn’t opposed to cooking, and he adored how happy it made Pap, but he wasn’t sure how beneficial those lessons would be. Something told him that not everything was supposed to turn out as a kind of pasta, despite how Papyrus liked to do it. “Maybe some other time. I’m having a pretty _stellar_ time out here right now.” He snickered and gave the cheekiest grin to his brother, who stared at him in a mixture of resignation and disbelief.

            “Brother, why must you do this to me?” he asked, pained.

            “Oh, I dunno. It seemed like an im _pasta_ ble opportunity to give up. But more seriously, I don’t want to get in the way of your cooking practice.” Papyrus opened his mouth to protest, but Sans cut him off. “I’m mean, if you’re going _tibia_ brilliant chef, you shouldn’t be held down by- Hey wait, where are you going?”

            Pap had gotten up and stalked back to the house, utterly done with the situation. He swung the door open and stood in the doorway, pointing a bony finger at his brother, which only served to make Sans start snickering. “I cannot handle any more of your awful puns tonight, Sans! I’m going inside!” The door slammed behind him, prompting Sans to start howling with laughter.

            “O-oh c’mon, bro! It’s funny!” he called between fits of laughter, tears leaking from his eye sockets. “Frisk would laugh with me!”

            The door opened again, Papyrus sticking only his head out. “They would! They’re a good kid!” Right after his affirmation of Sans’ statement he shut the door again. The shorter skeleton snickered, calming down after his fit, and shut his eyes. This was how life should always be, the sky over his head and his brother’s happiness secured. They were all alright.

            When he opened his eyes, he was in bed, warm and curled up in blankets. This wasn’t new, his brother had put him to bed before if he fell asleep outside. He could hear Papyrus listening to some show in the other room while banging pots and pans around, probably making some spaghetti hybrid again. Sans sat up, eyes half lidded, a small smile resting on his face. He was still pretty groggy after waking up, but happy nonetheless. There wasn’t a reason not to be happy these days. He put on his slippers and walked out of the room, waving to Pap as he went by.

            “Morning. Whatcha making?”

            “My world famous spaghetti, of course! Undyne says I’m getting pretty good at it. One day I’ll be the best spaghettore ever known! Nyeh heh heh Heh!” He gave the pot a good few extra stirrings, just to make sure the food would agree with him when it was done.

            San gave him a look at that. Normally he was trying to combine different foods into his pasta. “Just regular old spaghetti?”

            The confusion was mirrored back at him, as if Pap had never thought of doing anything differently. “Brother, there is no such thing as ‘regular old spaghetti’ when he comes to me. You should know that.”

            He chuckled and held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, sorry, you’re right. I’ll try some of your not regular spaghetti when I come back inside.” It was something he had been doing every morning since they left the underground. He went to the door, opened it, and was greeted by snow.

… Snow?

            Sans simply stared outside at the white blanket covering the ground, the houses, the trees, everything in sight. Far off in the distance he heard a rhythmic splashing, as if something heavy was being thrown into water. The air had a different pressure, as if it had been separated from the sky for so long it had forgotten what it was supposed to be, what real air felt like. He scanned the area slowly, his breath catching in his throat and his hands clutching at his jacket. No no no no. This couldn’t be real. Sans shook his head viciously, flicked the bones on his hands, and opened his eyes to, snow. To Snowdin. Panic rising, he tried again, desperately trying to wake himself up from a reality he hoped was a dream. The world closed in around him and he fell to the ground, staring straight forward out of fear. If he looked up, there would be no sky, no sun, no promise of the moon or stars. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know the sky was gone. If seeing Snowdin wasn’t enough proof, nothing around him held the soft glow of reflected sunlight.

            He gasped, choking on air, and covered his face with his hands, the lights in his eyes dim with shock. All of their hopes, dreams, snatched away overnight. Why? What happened? What did they do to deserve this?

            “Sans! Could you close the door? All the cold air is bad for my spaghetti.”

            Papyrus’ request snapped him out of his stupor, although he still felt as if someone had hit him in the chest with a bat. He looked over his shoulder and was glad to see his brother was too focused on his food to notice what was going on. “Y-yeah bro. Sorry.” Sans dragged himself back to his feet and out the door, only to slump back down in front of the house, pulling into a tight ball and burying his head in his arms. It didn’t seem as if Pap remembered anything other than the underground, or else he would be freaking out too. While he was glad his brother didn’t have to live with being separated from all the wonderful things he discovered while above, somehow his lack of remembrance made things worse. Sans pulled his legs closer to his body, too shell-shocked to do much else.

            They had everything they ever wanted, they were happy. And now? Now he was left with memories of a sky he couldn’t see and times with his brother that Pap would never remember. Time had been reset without resetting him entirely, leaving him alone in a town of his closest friends. The worst part was nothing could be done.

            Nothing could be done the next several times it happened either. When everyone didn’t die and actually made it to the surface, when he wasn’t forced to know his brother had been killed _again_ , the sunlight didn’t seem as bright. It wasn’t as important to see how it shone on Papyrus. He didn’t lay out in the starlight for hours, watching the constellations shift. Yes, he would have done anything to have felt the same wonder as he did the first time, but it just seemed like a huge joke. Everyone else exclaimed over how beautiful the world was, even though they’d seen it dozens of times before. The sunlight didn’t warm him now, it was searing instead. It dragged up all of the pain he liked to forget.

            When they did make it up to the surface, when, by some miracle, Frisk decided to play nice, he would stand with the others for a short time, then go back down to the underground, feeling the same as he did when he first found out that being on the surface didn’t last. It was better to go down by choice than to wait for the end. And it always ended, always reset.

            He didn’t have the determination to look at the stars anymore.


End file.
